System for treating uniform objects and a differential gear for such system



United States Patent Inventor Erik Christian Mernoe Virum, Denmark Appl.No. 723,867 Filed April 24, I968 Patented Dec. 15, I970 Assignee GearcoA/S Smedeholm, Herlev, Denmark Priority April 26, 1967 Denmark No.2,212/67 SYSTEM FOR TREATING UNIFORM OBJECTS AND A DIFFERENTIAL GEAR FORSUCH SYSTEM 5 Claims, 2 Drawing Figs.

U.S. Cl. 198/40 Int. Cl 8653 43/00 Field of Search 222/56;

[5 6] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,139,217 6/1964 Mell198/39 FOREIGN PATENTS 563,378 2/1958 Canada 198/40 PrimaryExaminer-Richard E. Aegerter Atlorney-Stevens, Davis, Miller & MosherABSTRACT: A system for treating uniform objects comprising automaticcounting devices located between storage means on a feed and conveyormeans and a succeeding treating station and between the treating stationand the succeeding storage means wherein two such counting devices arecoupled to differential gear provided with a movable member forrecording differences in the number of registered objects, said movablemember being coupled to a device for the regulation of the working speedof the stations.

PATENTEDBECI 5mm 3.647.251

sum 2 or 2 INVENTOR m c. HER/ME ATTORNEYS SYSTEM FOR TREATING UNIFORMOBJECTS AND A DIFFERENTIAL GEAR FOR SUCH SYSTEM This invention relatesto a system for treating uniform objects and is of the type comprising aplurality of treating Sta-- tions provided with automatic feeding andconveyor means between successive stations, said conveyor meansincluding storage means for the objects to be treated. Such systems areused in various contextsin industry, particularly in the food industry,where containers must be subjected to a series of treatments, comprisingfor inst. cleansing, filling, sealing, labelling, packing and, whererequired, control'measures. The various treating stations are usuallydimensioned so that their normal operational speed will be below themaximum rate, provision having been made for a certain reserve and forbrief suspensions of operation that frequently occur at the individualstations, so that after a suspension of the operation of a singlestation the working speed of this station may be increased sufficientlyto catch up-with the output of theother stations. Such regulations,however, previously had to be made manually or by stepwise regulation of'a sensing control, and it is the aim of the present invention toprovide a treating system where the operational speed of the individualstationsis adjusted automatically and in a manner by which anyirregularity caused by brief stoppages of the individual stations willbe equalized automatically.

This has been achieved according tothe invention by providing between astation and the succeeding storage means and between the storagemeansand the succeeding station an automatic counting device for counting theobjects, and that the two counting devices are coupled'each to one sideof a differential gear provided with a movable member for recording thedifference between the numbers of objects registered by the two countingdevices, the movable me'r'nberof the differential gear being coupled toa regulating device for the working speed of the preceding and/or thesucceeding treating station.

By a treating system of this construction it has been achieved that incase of brief suspensions of the operation of the station preceeding theconveyor means concerned, the speed of this station will be increasedautomatically when it starts work after the break, and in the same way asucceeding station may be retarded if the break is so long that thenumber of objects held between the two stations is reduced too much. Ifit is the succeeding station that is stopped temporarily, thepreceding'station will automatically reduce its speed when theaccumulation of objects in the storage means exceeds the permissible, orthe succeeding station will operate at increased speed when it startsafter the break, so that the number of objects may be reduced to normalas fast as possible. By this arrangement the whole system will workeffectively to capacity all the time, and practical tests have shownthat it is possible to obtain an overall increase of theproductivecapacity which is so large that the savings more thanoutbalance the costs incurred by the installation of the specificarrangements taught by the invention.

in order to obtain precisely the regulation desired in any givensituation the movable member of the differential gear of the system maybe adapted for linear displacement and be connected to a curve sectioncooperating with a rotatable or displaceable operating means associatedwith the said regulating device. I

To ensure that the automatic regulation of the working speed inexceptional circumstances, normally of very short duration, can be putout and replaced by'rnanual' operation, the coupling between theoperating means and the regulating device is releaseable to permit theregulating device to be operated manually and independent of the movablemember of the differential gear.

In a treating system of the type concemed' here control is oftenprovided along the conveyor means between two treating stations. Bymeans of this control objects may be sorted out, and provision must thenbe made to secure compensation for the objects sorted out, and this hasbeen achieved according to the invention by providing at either side ofa sorting station an automatically counting'device coupled to a primaryauxiliary differential gear and adapted to register the number ofobjects sorted out. The output shaft of the said primary auxiliarydifferential gear and the counting device disposed between the conveyormeans and the succeeding treating station are coupled to a secondaryauxiliary differential gear for the preceding treating station. Theprimary auxiliary differential gear will record the number of objectsthat have been sorted out,'and by means of the secondary differentialgear this number will be added to the number recorded by the countingdevice between the conveyor means and'the succeeding treating station,and thus the automatic speed regulation will be maintained both in thepreceding and in the succeeding station irrespective of variationscaused by the sorting out.

The working speed of the treating station preceding and/or succeedingthe conveyor means is thusregulated by the sum total of objects beforeor after the sorting station.

The invention will be explained in the following with reference to thedrawing, in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates a differential gear according to the invention foruse in a treating system according to the invention, and I FIG. 2 showsa treating system according to the invention.

FIG. 1 shows a differential gear 1 comprising two parallel shafts 2 and3 rotatably mounted at both ends. The shaft 2 has a projecting journal 4and isthreaded, while the shaft 3 has a longitudinally extending grooveor bead 5 and a projecting journal 6. On the shaft 2 is mounted agearwheel 7 provided with an internal thread corresponding to the shaftthread and guided in a crossbar 8 serving also as guide for a gearwheelmounted to be axially slidable on the shaft 3 and secured againstrotation relatively to the shaft by means of a projection or a slot'cooperating with the groove or bead 5.

The crossbar 8 is rigidly connected to a slide 10 which is slidablymounted on a guide 11 and supports a curved member 12 cooperating with areel 13 on a regulating arm 14 which is rotatably mounted about ajournal 15 and is actuated by 1 means of a spring 16 to rotateclockwise, whereby the reel 13 will be pressed against the curved disc12. To the journal 15 is secured a disc 17 provided with a projection 18serving to engage a projection 19 on the arm 14. Thedisc l7, moreover,is caused to rotate by a spring 20 which is so disposed and secured tothe arm 14 that it holds the abutments 18 and 19 in contact with oneanother. The disc 17 moreover supports an operating handle 21.

The two journals 4 and 6 are adapted for connection to each one of thecounting devices, and their direction of rotation and the pitch of thethread of the shaft 2 are adapted to cause the two shafts to rotate inopposite directions and at equal speed when the two counting devicesregister the same number, so that the two gearwheels 7 and 9 will rotatewithout being axially displaced and without axial displacement of thecrossbar 8 and the curved member 12. But if a difference oc ours in theregistrations of the two counting devices the rotatatory speeds-of thetwo gearwheels 7 and 9 will be different, and the cooperation betweenthe gearwheel 7 and the thread of the shaft 2 will cause displacement ofgearwheel and the crossbar 8 whereby the curved member 12 will bedisplaced and the arm 14 rotated so that also the shaft 15 will rotate.This shaft may in any convenient manner be coupled to the regulatingmeans for regulation of the working speed of a preceding and/orsucceeding treating station, and these regulating means may beelectrical, pneumatic, mechanical or other expedient devices. Also, theconnection between the journals 4 and 6 and the pertaining countingdevices may be provided in any convenient manner, for instance by meansof a rotatable shaft, and may be a hydraulic connection or it may beestablished as an electrical motion transmission. it will be obviousthat when there is a certain stock of objects between the two countingdevices connected to the journals 4 and 6,

"the crossbar 8 will remain stationary as long as this stock ismaintained constant, but as soon as the supply or takeoff va- "ries soas to affect the stock between the two counting devices,

path 24 with two sorting out stations 25 and 26 disposed in parallel andinterposed in the conveyor path 24. "*At either end of the sortingstation 25 there is a counting device, 27 and 28 respectively, andthrough lines, 29 and 30 respectively, and coupling means, 31 and 32respectively, the

counters are connected to each one of the primary shafts of atraditional differential 33, the directions ofrotation of the twoprimary shafts being selected so that a gearwheel 35 coupled to theoutput gearwheel 34 of the differential will register the differencebetween the numbers registered by the counters 27 and 28. In the samemanner the sorting station'26 is associated with counters 37 and 38,lines 39 and 40, coupling means 41 and 42, a differential 43 with theoutput gearwheel 44 and coupled thereto a gearwheel 45 indicatingdirectly the number of objects that have been sorted out at the sortingstation 26.

The two gearwheels 35 and 45 are rotating in the same direction and arecoupled to each one of the primary shafts of a further differential 46with an output gearwheel 47 and coupled thereto a gearwheel 48, whichwill thus register the sum total of the objects sorted out at the twosorting stations 25 and 26. Moreover, the primary shafts' of adifferential 49 are coupled partly to the gearwheel 48 and partly,through the coupling member 50 and a line 51, to a counter 52 disposedbetween the conveyor path 24 and the succeeding filling station 23. Theprimary shafts of the differential 49 are rotating in the samedirection, and the number of objects sorted out and recorded by thegearwheel 48 is therefore added to the number registered by the counter52, so that the output gearwheel 53 of the differential 49 will transmitto a gearwheel 54 a number corresponding to the number of objectsreceived byzthe succeeding filling station plus the objects sorted out.

Immediately at the point of transition between the bottle fillingstation 22 and the conveyor path 24 there is a counter 55 connectedthrough a line 56 and a coupling member 57 to one shaft 103 of adifferential 101 of the type illustrated in FIG. 1. The other shaft 102of the differential 101 supports the said gearwheel 54 and is moreoverprovided with a thread for cooperation with the internal thread of thegearwheel 107 which is in engagement with a gearwheel 109 which isdisplaceably but not rotatably mounted on the shaft 103 by means of alongitudinal groove or bead 105. The two gearwheels 107 and 109 areguided in a crossbar 108 supporting an operating projection 112cooperating with a regulating device 113 which in turn is connectedthrough a line 114 to an adjustment member 115 for the working speed ofthe station lclaim:

l. A system for treating uniform objects and comprising a plurality oftreating stations provided with automatic feeding and conveyor meansbetween successive stations, said conveyor means comprising storagemeans for the objects to be treated, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in thatbetween a station and the succeeding storage means and between thestorage means and the succeeding station there is an automatic countingdevice for counting the objects, that the two counting devices arecoupled each to one side of a differential gear provided with a movablemember for recording the difference between the numbers of objectsregistered by the two counting devices, and that the movable member ofthe differential gear is coupled to a regulation device for the workingspeed of the preceding and/or the succeeding treating station.

2. A treating system according to claim 1, c h a r a c te r z e d inthat the movable member of the differential gear is adapted for lineardisplacement and is connected to a curved member cooperating with arotatable or displaceable operating means connected to the saidregulating device.

3. A treating system according to claim 2, c h a r a c te r i z e d inthat the coupling between the operating means and the regulating deviceis releasable to permit the regulating device to be operated manuallyindependent of the movable member of the differential gear.

4. A treating system according to claim 1, in which a sorting out ofobjects is effected along the conveyor means between the two treatingstations, 0 h a r a c t e r i z e d in that at either side of a sortingstation there is an automatic counting device coupled to a primaryauxiliary differential gear and adapted to register the number ofobjects sorted out, that the output shaft of said primary auxiliarydifferential gear 'and the counting device located between the conveyormeans and the succeeding treating station are coupled to a secondaryauxiliary differential gear for summing up the recorded values, and thatthe output shaft of the secondary auxiliary differential gear is coupledto one side of the main differential gear, the other side of which iscoupled to the counting device located between the conveyor means andthe preceding treating station.

5. A differential gear for a treating system according to claim 1, c h ar a c t e r i z e d in that it comprises two parallel shafts rotating inopposite directions and each provided with means for being coupled to acounting device, one shaft supporting a gearwheel which is axiallyslidable but not rotatable on the shaft, the other shaft being providedwith a thread in which runs a gearwheel which is provided with athreaded hub and which is in engagement with the first-mentionedgearwheel, the two gearwheels being mounted in a displaceable slideforming the movable member of the differential gear or an integral partthereof.

